Police: Deaths in park were murder-suicide

HUNTINGTON BEACH – A man charged with arson and murder was one of two people found dead in what appeared to be a murder-suicide at Bartlett Park, officials said Wednesday.

Abraham Felmley, 32, was found dead with a gunshot wound Tuesday afternoon along with another man, Robert Duran of Huntington Beach. Felmley shot Duran before taking his own life, Huntington Beach police Lt. Mitch O'Brien said. A gun was found at the scene, he added, and any connection between the two men has not been released.

A passerby saw the two bodies around 1 p.m. Tuesday in the rural park between Coldwater Lane and Beach Boulevard, south of Yorktown Avenue. The park, 15 to 20 acres of dense trees, brush and trails, is a hangout for teenagers and homeless people, neighbors said.

Authorities in Sacramento had been seeking Felmley since Monday. He was wanted in connection with a house fire and the deaths of two of his family members. Arson investigators were seeking the cause of the fire at the home in south Sacramento County, said Sgt. Jason Ramos of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. The bodies of two men were found inside the home, and Ramos said investigators were trying to determine their cause of death.

One of the people found in the home, a man in his early 80s who was Felmley's grandfather, suffered blunt force trauma to his head and body, Ramos said. The other, a man in his 60s, was that man's son and Felmley's uncle.

A white pickup and a gun were missing from the home, Ramos said.

About four hours later, a man fishing near Highway 152 outside Merced said a man in a white truck stole his car, keys and phone at gunpoint. The carjacker, whom the man identified as Felmley, fled in the man's 1992 green Toyota Camry.

"We thought he had family members down there who might be in danger," Ramos said.

Felmley was in violation of his parole after serving prison time for domestic violence, Ramos said. He also had a history of substance abuse and family members described him as a transient, Ramos said.

Sacramento County Superior Court records show Felmley was convicted in 1999 of possession of an explosive device, a felony. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to theft with an earlier conviction in an Orange County court. That same year he was convicted in a Long Beach court of spousal abuse, an offense carrying a sentence of two to four years in state prison.

On Tuesday, he was charged in Sacramento with arson and two counts of murder, court records said.

Huntington Beach detectives are working with Sacramento investigators. Anyone with information may call 714-536-5988.